Inspiration
"You see things as they are and ask, 'why?' I dream things as they never were and ask, 'why not?'" -''George Bernard Shaw ''"White. A blank page, or canvas. His favorite. So many possibilities." - Sunday in the Park with George, by Steven Sondheim. So maybe you just got out of your first class and you're geared up to write - awesome. Maybe you're struggling to think of what your ten-minute play is about - great. Maybe you want to write something but that blank Word document keeps scaring you away - it happens to everyone. Maybe it's 3 a.m. and there's a deadline tomorrow. Whatever you do: DON'T PANIC. It's important to remember some First Draft Advice when you're starting to write - the best of which is: the enemy of Creativity is Doubt. Writer's Block occurs not when you have nothing to write about, but when you don't think what you're writing is ever going to be worthwhile. Ever have that little Editor in your head that nit-picks everything you do? Well, gag that Editor and tie him to a chair. There is a time and place in the creative process for revising, revisiting, and building on what you already have. Now is not that time. We make theater to entertain - there are an unlimited amount of ways to light an audience's brains on fire with your work. But if it's not interesting to you, it's not going to be interesting for them. So the first step, when sitting down to write any play, is: what do you want to see on stage? What strikes a chord? What drives home? What punches you in the gut? What makes you wonder? It sounds corny, but if you start from a want you have to see something onstage, you may find one want leads to another, and soon you have a first draft. Also, try filling in this statement: "What would happen if _________?" Or, even simpler, "What if __________?" Below are more specific ways to find that first spark for a play. Questions Plays often have Dramatic Questions, so one thing you might ask yourself is: what lingering questions do I have about life? These can be anything from “Is the Death Penalty right?” to “How do mascots make a living?” One question often leads to another question, and a brainstorm begins. “How many crimes does it stop? How many criminals are exonerated every year?” or “What if the mascot has a job on the side? What could it be?” Hopefully, your brainstorm can produce some really good questions, which you can fill in some answers to in the play. Because you have to adhere to a Ten-Minute Format, you probably won’t be able to answer questions as big as “Is the Death Penalty right?” – but you could probably figure out “what happens if a Pro-Death Penalty woman finds out her date is an exonerated criminal? What would they both do?” or “What if a mascot had to prove he was a serious businessman during a job interview? How would he do it?” Brass Tacks: - Find two friends: challenge one to a game of "Questions," where the two of you only speak in questions, until someone slips up. Ask the third friend to write down any questions that you say, which they find interesting. When someone loses, switch roles - keep going until you have a list that satisfies you. Pick one of the questions on that list, and start writing a play where two characters try to find an answer. Or, maybe they try to find different answers. - TV commercials are notorious for leaving information out. Pick a commercial, and really tear it apart - what questions does it leave you wondering about? What do you think they're hiding? Write them down. You now have a lot of Tactics (the questions) that a Character can use to find something out, and a lot of Obstacles (the reasons to hide something) that can get in their way. Write a scene where two Characters clash using these Tactics and Obstacles. Problems Plays also have central problems which the characters try to solve, such as the Plague in Thebes. These problems kick off Actions, and the play tracks the course of that Action. So, what are some problems that you see around you? How are people trying to solve them? How could people try to solve them? These problems can be real, like in Auto Da Fe , which was based on a real school attempting to ban a book, or they can be imaginary, like the kinds of problems that arise out of What-If Questions (see above). Brass Tacks: - Look at a newspaper and make a list of every problem people are running into on a given page. Make your list as abstract as possible, so not "President Obama argues with conservative pundits about healthcare," but, "a leader clashes with his followers about how to proceed." Once you have these essential problems, find the one that strikes you as the most interesting. Since you've abstracted it, you can fill in whatever details you want - "a leader" and "his followers" could be whatever group interests YOU most. - Make a list of the six things a certain character needs to function, and number each one. Roll a six-sided die and cross off whichever number you rolled. Write what happens when a character suddenly loses that thing he or she needs to function. - Find a problem you're particularly passionate about. List all the reasons you think you're right. Then, write a character trying to convince you that you're wrong, using all those reasons you've listed as Obstacles he or she has to overcome to win you over. Characters Good plays always include specific characters, and when you’re just starting out, making a character that stands out can seem daunting. However, there’re plenty of ways to do it. First off, think of all the people you know. How well can you say you know them? Think of the people you don't know well. How come you don't know them? Think of the people you really know well. How'd you get to know them so well? Probability is, you've been around people you know well for long enough that you've seen what they DO under a lot of circumstances. What they DO tells you who they ARE. When just starting out, you can use that little equation (What they do = Who they are) both ways - you can look at qualities you want your Character to have, and determine what they do onstage that displays those qualities, or you can think of things they do, and decide what qualities those actions suggest. But the important thing to remember is that this Character hasn't been written yet - and you won't know ANYTHING about them until you write them. So, get to know them when you write. Leave yourself open to discovering them. Brass Tacks: - What has your character been doing in the fifteen minutes before your play started? What have they been doing all day? Try writing a biography of a character. - Pick an object, then list the qualities of that object. A cookbook could be "big, filled with information, useless, etc." Once you have a list, try to write a character that fits that description. Feel free to edit as you go. - "What they do = who they are" - pick a single object and place it onstage. A character walks onstage and sees this object. Write all the things they could do with this object - what qualities do they evoke about that character? (Taken from the game "Props" on Who's Line is it Anyway) Settings Harold Pinter once said that in a play, two characters are in a room, and a third enters. What happens? Similarly, you can start with an opening stage picture (At Rise), and write from that and see what Characters and Actions that stage suggests. A lot of times, when writing a first draft, the playwright "discovers" the Characters, the Actions, the Conflict - all these things, simply as they play out. They may not be wholly or completely formed, but suddenly it's obvious what the playwright really wants to write about. So, warm up that curiosity by taking time to investigate everything in the imaginary world of your play! Maybe something will come out that you never expected. Brass Tacks: - Imagine any room or place that you know like the back of your hand. It could be your room at home, it could be your favorite shelf at a bookstore - anything. Take some time to write down the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and sensations that come to mind. Move from one interesting memory to another. Once you think you've described it fully, write two more. Once you're done, read all three back to yourself and pick the one you find most compelling. Use that description as your opening stage direction. - Find a travel article about a specific place, and highlight all the parts about the place that stand out in the article. Pick six things you've highlighted, and create a setting around those qualities. - Make a list of as many light sources that you can think of. Pick two. Write a scene where those are the only two sources of light. Events A lot can happen in ten minutes, and also, not a lot can happen in ten minutes. In ten minutes, your life can change. In ten minutes, an entire relationship cannot bloom and die. It might bloom, or it might die, but both events just do not fit into ten minutes. Many times in stories, there's a central event. Hamlet gets revenge against Claudius. A detective confronts (or fails to confront) the criminal (used in every episode of Law and Order and every other cop show ever). The main event of Sophie's Choice was so important that they made it the title. Sometimes, when writing a play, it's helpful to start with an event and work backwards. Whether from the world news, or just around the corner, there are always things happening. And those events will always have causes, and effects. So, if you see a specific event that you really want to write about, why did it happen? What happened because of that event? Would the same thing happen in your story? What if it had a different cause? Or a different effect? Brass Tacks: - Try taking a well-known story, like a fairy tale or a piece of folklore, and pick out the main event (a Princess not being able to sleep on 20 matresses because of a pea, an innocent little girl getting eaten by a wolf in her grandmother's clothes, etc.). Find the "Trigger" to that event - the most immediate thing that caused it to happen. Then find the "Result" of that event - the first thing that happened because of it. You should have a Main Event, a Trigger that caused it, and a Result that happened after it. See what happens if you put in a different Trigger. Or a different Result. Write a scene where a different story leads up to the Main Event, or where a different ending comes out of it. - Make a list of choices that you think are indefensible. Write a monologue where a character defends making that choice. - Try keeping a journal of things that happen during one day. Rather than writing down Beginnings or Endings, try writing down all the Transformations that you see (Class transformed into a free period, my friend transformed into a nobody, a bud transformed into a flower, etc.). At the end of the day, pick one that you think you could chart over ten minutes. Write that Transformation.